Flow-induced erosion process modeling: A review of influencing parameters and CFD-DEM methods

Flow-induced erosion is a critical phenomenon affecting a wide range of industrial and environmental systems, from natural landscapes like rivers and coastal areas to engineered environments, and industrial applications. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of, modeling approaches for the erosion process, focusing on the mechanisms of particle transport, fluid-particle interactions, and the transition between different flow regimes. The study categorizes erosion into surface and mass erosion, highlighting the differences in erosion behavior between cohesive and non-cohesive materials. Key parameters influencing erosion rates, such as shear stress, particle size, and flow velocity, are discussed in detail. The paper also reviews experimental and numerical approaches to studying erosion, with a particular emphasis on the coupling of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) for simulating fluid-particle interactions. By synthesizing existing research, this review aims to provide a deeper understanding of erosion processes, offering insights into predictive modeling and mitigation strategies for erosion-related challenges in various applications.